The British Shotgun: Three Volumes covering 1850-2011

The British Shotgun: Three VolumesCovering Guns from 1850 - 2011Books by I.M. Crudgington & D.J. Baker

Hardbound books with dust jackets

Lavishly illustrated with B&W photographs and drawings throughout

Three volumes with a total of 826 pages

Quiller Publishing, 2011

The British Shogun series is a tribute to the ingenuity and craftsmanship of the British gun trade.

Volume One, 1850 to 1870

Volume One traces the evolution of the shotgun during its formative years in Great Britain. Extensively and painstakingly researched, this highly regarded work gives an invaluable insight into the developments that took place during this innovative period. 256 pages.

Chapters include: The origins; The Great Exhibition and its aftermath; John Henry Walsh, The Field and The Field Trials; Inert actions; Slide and drop actions; Side opening actions; Daw, Schneider and the Centre Fire; Sliding bolt single bite snap actions; Rotating bolt single bite snap actions; Multiple bite snap actions; Bizarre actions; The gadgetry of the centre fire; Hammerless actions. Appendices include: Small arms at the 1851 Exhibition; Programme and results of the Field Gun Trials 1858, 1859, 1866; Patent law and specifications; British shotgun patents 1850-1870.

Volume Two, 1871 to 1890

Volume Two continues to unravel the intricate and fascinating story of the evolution and development of the British shotgun. 250 pages.

Chapters include: The lever-locked hammerless gun; The end of the hammer gun; The self-cocking hammerles gun; The barrel-cocking hammerless gun; the spring-cocked hammerless gun; the safety; The forend fastener; Multi-barrels and repeaters; Electrical ignition; Bizarre actions; The ejector; The choke-bore and other modifications to the internal form of the barrel; The increase in the popularity of shooting; The British shotgun patents 1871-1890.

Volume Three, 1891 to 2011

The British Shotgun Volume Three 1891 - 2011 completes the trilogy of the renowned British Shotgun series. This important work includes many previously unrecorded designs and artifacts - for example nowhere else in print is to be found the whole story of the single trigger; the over and under gun; the cheap single barrel or the classic side by side gun. This volume contains information on many unrecorded designs and artifacts, including the single trigger, the over and under gun, and the single barrel or the classic side-by-side gun. This is the most sought after volume of the three volume set because it provides the complete story of the British shotgun since 1891, the period that most interests shooters of British guns. Thus, it covers the heyday of the British gun industry from the Edwardian Period, through both World Wars, the period between them, and the post WW-II period. The book finally brings us up to date (2011) with the most modern of British designs. 320 pages.

Chapters include: The single trigger; The over and under gun; The machine-made single; The continuing development of the side-by-side shotgun; Guns of aberrant form; The ejectors; The safety catches; The aids to shooting.

About the authors.

Ian Crudgington ran a successful gunmaking business and served for many years on the Council of the Gun Trade Association and has been Chairman of the organization. In 1960 he was elected to the Livery of the Gunmakers Company of the City of London, to the Court in 1969, and he served as Master from 1974 to 1975.

David Baker has had a life-long fascination with the evolution of the sporting gun. With his writing career now in its fourth decade, he has produced hundreds of magazine articles and numerous books including the Royal Gunroom at Sandringham and The Heyday of the Shotgun.

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